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Sustainable forestry

Page 2018-02-19

Forests are important for people, and always have been. If we want to continue to benefit from our forests and everything they have to offer, we have to use them sustainably and apply a long-term approach. Consideration for their natural, social and cultural values is crucial.

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Södra’s members are committed to responsible forest management. Södra’s membership, comprising many small-scale forest farmers with a range of ideas and targets, contributes to highly-varied and diverse forest characteristics. A key tool for sustainable forestry is certification, which is why about 70 percent of our members hold FSC® and/or PEFC™ certification.

Forests are a resource that should be used, but not overused, which is why we have to manage and harvest our forests sustainably. We base our harvest rates on the recommendations issued by the Swedish Forest Agency and the Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences. To increase conservation considerations, all harvesting operations are reviewed and rated using a Green Balance Sheet. The target for our considerations is a 95-percent approval rate by 2020. We offer advisory and other services to help our members achieve a balance between production and environmental and social values, and they set aside areas for nature conservation voluntarily. Preserving or enhancing the attributes of high conservation value areas requires special management methods. The area set aside for nature conservation measures will therefore increase: The target for 2020 is 3,000 hectares per year.

This is where we are now

Harvest rate

In 2018, our harvest rate was within sustainable recommendations. The rate was 6.2 m³fo/ha, down 6 percent compared with 2017.

Approved final harvesting sites

The rate of approved final harvesting sites in the Green Balance Sheet was 94 percent, down 1 percent compared with 2017.

Nature-conservation

In 2018, the area where nature conservation measures were performed was 2,100 ha, up 45 percent compared with 2017.